Briton becomes youngest woman to climb world’s 14 highest peaks

A 23-year-old has become the youngest woman to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre-plus peaks.

Adriana Brownlee reached the 8,027-metre summit of Shishapangma in Tibet on 9 October, becoming the second British person to complete the gruelling feat. It came three years after Brownlee reached the top of Everest and resolved to climb all 14 of the world’s highest peaks, the Times reported.

As she neared the top of Shishapangma, she told the newspaper, “I started to cry. I hadn’t reached the summit yet, I couldn’t even see it, but I knew it was going to happen. It took another hour before we reached the incredible summit. By this time it was just sunrise and we had a beautiful clear sky.

“It was the most incredible moment. I cried again remembering that I had just summited all 14 8,000-metre peaks and made history.”

Brownlee, who grew up in south-west London and attended the University of Bath, is said to have laid out her ambition as an eight-year-old at primary school, writing: “I would like to be famous for climbing the highest mountain in the world … and be one of the youngest girls to do this.”

The 14 highest peaks are Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri I, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna I, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Shishapangma.

For her last climb, Brownlee climbed without the use of supplementary oxygen, making it an even tougher challenge.

“It’s all about intrinsic motivation for me and wanting to push my body and achieve my personal goals,” she said. “Mountaineering is my escape in life, it makes me feel free and truly connected with myself so it becomes an obsession to go back.

“I quit university and my degree to pursue a career in mountaineering and sacrificed friendships, regular teenage life and more, but it was all worth it.”

Looking ahead, she said she wants to work with others with an enthusiasm for mountaineering. “I will stay in the mountains, but now want to help others achieve their dream by creating a new generation of high-altitude mountaineering and trekking experiences which focuses on safety and clients’ past experiences.”

Fewer than 100 people have climbed all 14 peaks, all of which are in the Himalayas and Karakorum. The first British climber to do so was Alan Hinkes in 2005.

Hinkes told the Times: “I have followed Adriana’s determined progress since first meeting her in 2021. It is great news to hear another Brit has climbed all 14 eight-thousanders.

“To climb all these mountains in less than four years is a remarkable achievement. It took me 17 years. None of these giant mountains are easy or safe and she has shown extreme dedication, as well as enduring a lot of suffering and risk to complete all the 8,000-metre peaks.”